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The Last Day of Class
Donna Bailey and Todd Zakrajsek, Center for Faculty Excellence
What do you do on the last day of class? Much of the literature on the last day of class notes three primary uses of this last class session: final examination preparation, completing course evaluations, and reflecting on the course. Given the importance of this last day it is worth just a bit of effort to think through the best use of your final minutes of the course.
Preparation for Final Assessments
Whether you are planning a final exam or a final paper, the last regularly scheduled class period is a good time to be certain the students understand the task before them and to motivate them do their best on this last task. Students have high levels of anxiety about final exams. By providing study tips and other preparatory material in class, as well as putting those materials in Blackboard, the instructor reduces the level of anxiety that students might have about missing something from class. Kelly Scolaro, a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, helps her students each semester in a variety of ways. For example, she said that she gives students “…some study tips for my final exam. I also post the tips on my Blackboard site…” Posting study guides and tips on the Blackboard often not only helps the students to prepare, but also decreases the number of questions that may well be directed to you as the instructor for that course.
If a large portion of the last day of class is reserved for exam preparation, think seriously about what information will be most valuable. Will the exam cover the material from the entire course, or will you weight recent material more heavily? Also, does the final exam emphasize specific content, application of material, or synthesis of multiple perspectives? There is a large difference between knowing the definition of something, being able to apply that which you have learned, or pulling together differing viewpoints. Students also benefit from knowing the format of the test. There are different strategies in studying for an essay exam than there is for a multiple-choice exam. This is NOT teaching to the test, but rather, helping the test takers to better understand what is being asked of them so they can spend less time guessing what the format will be and more time studying the course content.
End-of-Course Evaluations
The last day of class may be used to collect data from students on how the class has progressed and how well they have accomplished the course goals and learning outcomes across the semester. This may be done by either the standard end-of-course summative evaluation or by some other system you have developed. You may also ask qualitative questions that augment the traditional form. For example, ask the students to make recommendations regarding specific areas in the course that you implemented that semester, such as the inclusion of YouTube clips or the grading rubrics for the term paper. Asking for recommendations often leads to more useful feedback than simply asking for affective responses to multiple-choice course evaluation items. It is often helpful to ask students to include a specific suggestion regarding how the course could be improved and perhaps two or three of the most important things they learned in the course.
At times, it is useful to obtain feedback from the students that is not even directed at the instructor. To accomplish this, some faculty ask students to write a letter to students in the next class explaining what they liked about the course and what they would suggest to help the next group of students be successful. You can then either read those letters the first day of the next semester or hand them out for students to read. This last day is also an appropriate time to ask students to self-evaluate their own performance and indicate ways, in hindsight, the course could have been adapted to have encouraged them to study more or work harder in the course.
Often, course evaluations are given out on the last day of class with fear that it is a time for students to “get even” with the instructor. Think through the point of getting feedback from your students and regard this last day as a time to get valuable information that can be used to make changes to the course next semester.
Reflection
You and your students have been together as a community of learners for several months, and depending on what has transpired during the semester this last day can be bittersweet for some students. Obviously, students are excited to complete the course and move forward in their educational career or even graduation. That said, not all students look forward to the end of the course. Some will miss seeing friends met during the class, others have settled into the course and understand what you expect of them, and for still others the material learned may finally make sense and be of real interest to them. Given all the mixed emotions at the end of the semester, this can be an important time to provide some closure in the current semester, to place the course in the larger context of the field, and to give students some direction for their next steps.
Many faculty use the last day of class for meaningful reflection and a time to encourage continued development in the course content. Phillip Edwards, an Instructor in the School of Information and Library Science, blends reflection with his students with end-of-course evaluations:
“… I return the information sheets that I had students fill out on the first day of class with their interests (if any) in subject, anticipated goals from being in the course, and where they expected to be in their post-degree careers. With that initial snapshot in their hands, I have students fill out the Carolina Course Evaluation forms at the start of the day (for 20-30 minutes), and when they're done, I come back to the class to debrief with them about plans for the future iterations of the course…I frame this discussion as something that will benefit future students, and that, in some way, we all ‘own’ the course by this point. After this discussion, I spend a brief amount of time talking to students about potential ‘next steps’…. I think it's helpful for students to see beyond the 15 or 16 weeks that we've just spent together to see resources and practices that can support their on-going development.”
Part of the teaching process in college is helping students put their courses into a broader context through reflection so that they can see why a particular course is important to the academic and career goals they have set for themselves. Todd Austell, a Research Assistant Professor in Chemistry, illustrates this broader view:
“In my classes I’m not just trying to teach my students chemistry. While that’s the main theme, I like to try to help them all aspects of their studies and campus lives and this perspective is the same from the beginning of class to the end of class... My feeling is that if I can impart to them a mature understanding of the larger reasons for the skills and lessons they learn on the campus, I can in some way help them to succeed in other endeavors beyond their interactions with me…and far beyond their years at UNC-CH…
Sometimes the last day of class is simply a time to “take stock” of what has been accomplished in the course. Kelly Scolaro asks her students to quickly think about what they have learned during the prior three months and what the experience has meant to her:
“For PHCY 402 Pharmaceutical Care Lab II, I spend a few minutes telling the students how much I enjoyed teaching them, celebrating their accomplishments during the semester (e.g., learning how to make an IV product for a patient, delivering a presentation, and developing better patient counseling skills)…”
Taking another approach in his course with over 400 students, Dr. Ralph Byrns, an Adjunct Professor in Economics, highlights student work and encourages them to think about what economics and his course have contributed to their understanding:
“On the last day of class … I have students read selected (high quality) papers they’ve written indicating why they disagree with me about a particular topic (e.g., environmental regulation)…I encourage them to take more economics courses, and invite them to come talk to me in future semesters, regardless of whether they ever take another economics course.”
In many courses, instructors work to develop a “learning community,” and reflecting on the changes that have taken place during the semester in that community facilitates student motivation and commitment to their courses and academic program.
Final Thoughts
The last day of class is one of the most important days in the entire semester and well worth a bit of time to really think about how you wish to end your time together. Consider the best use for that time and how you wish the course to be remembered. For many students, it is a time to bring closure to an experience that has been very important to them. Also, it is a time to motivate the students and to get them to think about how this course fits into their educational experience. It is the last time you will spend together as a group. What is the optimal way to use that time that best benefits both you and your students?
